You Are Holy, Righteous, and Redeemed

  Honestly, I haven't thought about my five things in a while.  Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful, but I'm also a person who forgets how thankful she is only minutes after I thank the Lord for all the blessing he has given me.  It's easy for me to say I'm grateful for something and then not a minute later take it for granted.  I really wanted to give my five things some thought this week.  I am constantly thankful for my family--the one I was born into and the one I gained when I married my loving husband, but I also am thankful for way more than that.

  

This week I'm thankful for these five things:

The grace and mercy God is able to give to me

(Because I have someone to take my place and intercede for me)

The simple fact that I'm finally feeling better emotionally 

(I think it's mostly due to the sun coming out from under the clouds and bringing spring with it)

The opportunity to continue my photography business

(Not that it ever stopped, but without feeling well it's kind of hard to put yourself out there, or at least it is for me)

The special day of Good Friday that my husby gets to have off

(I can't wait for us to spend the day together; we've had a hugely busy past few weekends)

The support my husby gives me in all my endeavors

(Whether it is this blog, knitting, weaving, photography, and the occasional dabble in hand lettering and watercolors, he is always there to encourage me)

Plus:

The crazy, amazing day that is today

(The day of Jesus's death for me, even though I am the one who put him there and I was the one who cried out to kill him;  without today there would be no resurrection, no life everlasting, no hope for the future--for my future and for future generations to come)

And a totally unrelated, but adorable photograph

(They actually love each other to pieces, but Oscar is more like the annoying little sibling to Dante):

I promise Oscar will not be in every blog post, I am still working on taking more photos 

(With both my film camera and my iPhone/digital camera so I can post them immediately on here; otherwise there will most likely be a short lapse in photos of what's happened and when I post them)

Title:  "Greater" by MercyMe

Handwritten X's and O's

 Two blog posts ago, I recapped a year in my life as of a year ago.  So much has happened since then and I want to seriously start blogging again.  I've missed this creative aspect of my life.  These past few months have been long and difficult (as winters have been for me these past few years), but spring is approaching and I've found my spirits almost miraculously lifted.  I'll most likely post a thing or two about that in the coming posts.  Starting April 2, 2015 my new goal is to post once a day for the rest of the year (or maybe 365 days), we'll see how well I do.  Hopefully, I'll be better at restarting this whole blogging thing than I am at keeping some other goals I've set for myself.
  I haven't been super faithful about taking photos.  Some days I'll take twenty-plus and other days I'll take minus-zero.  That is something else I'm hoping this blog will help me with--reminding me to take more photos and document my life with my husband.  Leading up to the wedding, I was busy planning then after the wedding, I found myself just wanting to enjoy married life without taking many photos after that I slowly found myself feeling worse and worse.  Not wanting to take photos of me just laying around resting, I found that I would forget to take photos even during the holidays.  I don't think I have a single photo from Thanksgiving or really any good ones from Christmas.  This is going to have to change.
  It's been a busy year.  Here's all the things I've been doing since I last posted:

Skiing on my last family trip to copper mountain for a while

Learning on a trip to San Fran for a chronic fatigue/fibromyalgia conference with some sight seeing thrown into the mix

Remembering the 20th anniversary of the Flight 705 hijacking

Beer tasting in Memphis with my main man

Choosing a life together with my favorite youth pastor

Relaxing on the Smith Lake with a few family friends

Sailing in the crystal waters of the British Virgin Islands, best family vacation and first vacation ever to solely create on film photographs

Growing in Christ during a week retreat in Florida with some really amazing girls

Posing in front of Cassidy Carson's camera with my fiancé in Franklin, TN

Photography by Cassidy Carson Photography

Playing dress up in my wedding gown and attracting a thousand little bugs in my many layers of tulle

Photography by Cassidy Carson Photography

Planning a wedding with the help of my mom and a TON wonderful ladies (which includes but is not limited to Mona E. Dunlap Events, Deedra Stone Designs, Christine Ohrberg, Aunt Jeanie, and Cousin Kathy)

Marrying the love of my life

Photography by Cassidy Carson Photography

Celebrating our marriage with family and friends

Photography by Cassidy Carson Photography

Honeymooning in New Orleans and eating way too much yummy food

Moving into D's apartment and being asked to decorate to my heart's content

Turning into an old lady on year twenty-five of my life (and eating some yummy, birthday-sprinkled, homemade cinnamon rolls)

Rooting for the Rebs against the Dawgs (there also might have been some celebrating when we won)

Praying for strength and wisdom on the winter weekend trip with the youth

Knitting four Christmas stockings (and countless other projects, mainly a birthday shawl, finishing my sweater, and a huge blanket that has yet to be sewn together)

Worshipping the king who became baby and whose birth was a gift to us all; a gift of undeserved grace and mercy

Creating our own holiday traditions

Praising the Lord that D was born

Loving a married Valentine's Day and that D never hesitates at being my model

Playing in the snow with 2 puppies and a man who loves to embrace his inter-child

Experimenting with all the different types of film I can buy

Photographing all sorts of things on film and always anxiously awaiting the developed and scanned images

Enjoying over 6 months of marriage with joy and laughter and constantly seeing my sin and growing in my walk with Christ;  I'm so thankful for the man who calls me his wife

Thanking the Lord for all the many blessings he has bestowed on us

Sending out our first married Christmas card 

Toasting to a new year and all that it brings

Surviving an allergic reaction or two

Crafting in as many different mediums as possible

Trying to fight past the pain and fatigue and finally get a definite diagnosis

Jotting down ideas for an eventual novel, hopefully

Continuing to be a sporadic, but somewhat faithful pen pal (faithfully remembering to write back even if it's been about a month since I received the letter)

Reading and rereading some amazing novels

Today: Contemplating moving over to Wordpress or somewhere else.  For some reason I've had quite a bit of trouble with this blog post today.

Title: "Love Letters" by The Lovebirds
Filmed by Kawa Amina & Kit Provided & Edited by A Bryan Photo

Spring Was Following

  This winter has been very long and cold.  I, for one, am so ready for spring and warmer weather to be here for good.  Bright colors incorporated in my outfit, either in the bottom or top, are a wonderful way I cheer myself up and remind myself that winter can't keep me down.  Denim shirts are very versatile, you can wear them over t-shirts or long sleeve shirts to add an extra layer of warmth on those days that are a little chilly.  Basically, you can think of them as another jacket or cardigan.  Scarves, too, provide warmth not only around your neck but you'd be surprised how warm they can actually keep you.  And don't forget to keep wearing those booties you've worn all winter.  They'll still look right and dress up this cute and somewhat casual look.  Most importantly don't go out and buy something new.  I'm sure you have these pieces in your closet already.  

1. J.Crew Denim Western Shirt in Pale Indigo, $78  2. Mango Minnie and Mickey T-shirt, $21  3. Nasty Girl Fantasize Earrings, $25  4. Pink Mascara African Tribe Scarf, $48  5. Rag & Bone Harrow Boot, $495  6. AE Striped T-Shirt, $20  7. Gap Broken-in Straight Khakis, $22

Title: "Don't Let It Get You Down" by Johnnyswim

The Same But Somehow Different

    I had completely forgotten about my "five things I'm thankful for" posts while I was away.  Not to say that I wasn't ever thankful--but I'm pretty sure I was lacking in gratitude and general appreciation during the most part of my hiatus.  So even though there aren't any photos to go along with my "five things" I still wanted to count them out, if only for my own benefit.

This week I'm thankful for:

Being reminded of the perfection in the imperfections

Being one of the ladies

Being a blogger once again

Being with the whole family (minus MM--we miss you, Petey!!!)

Being blessed by God

 

Title: "Teach Me to Know" by The Lone Bellows

Maybe Something Got Lost or Forgotten

    Has it really been almost a year since my last post?  As time always does, it feels like both forever ago and just yesterday.  I think it's been somewhere around nine months and five days, not that I counted or anything.  Nine months, wow.   

That's

one relaxing week at the lake with the whole family plus three other families & their grown children

one 35mm Pentax camera to tentatively experiment with

one successful self-portrait session plus more than a few that weren't quite so successful

one spiritually blessed week at the beach with some super cool youth from Hernando & one pretty awesome youth leader

one first date followed by seven more months filled with dates and hangouts with said youth leader

 two almost sleepless weekends with young girls after God's own heart

seven birthdays--all celebrated with presents and cheer, even if a few were long distance

four and a half days and four nights nannying two energetic, precious boys

several trips to Alabama all of them producing one treasure or another

one fundraiser, raising money to help abused children, photographed and crafted for

one neverending Christmas celebration

one and a half sweaters knitted--zero assembled

one wall of art perfectly curated

two significant haircuts

countless moles dug up and shown off by the faithful hunter Jack & a few turtles found and loved on by the playful possessive Oscar

one and a half diagnoses of fibromyalgia and an autoimmune something

five alternative treatments

numerous migraine days

one amazingly designed website--from Imaginary Jane--that fits perfectly with my new business cards, magazine, welcome packets, and most of all, my logo--that finally came together with a few special touches from Marissa Huber


Title: "Unofferable" by Half Moon Run

These Things Just Come and Go

     I've been struggling lately. Struggling to create blog post in any way, shape, or form of a regular or semi-regular basis. Struggling to even write this blog post. Struggling to put up with my daily migraines. Struggling to finish the small loose-end tasks to finally be ready to open for business. Struggling to depend solely on God's strength and not my own. 

     I like to think of myself as a semi-private person. You won't ever see me on a reality TV show, and yet here I am broadcasting my life to the world—that’s where the “semi” part comes in. I'm normally pretty reserved and I could definitely use a few more years honing the art of small talk—and in my wildest dream, wittiness. Most of all, I'm just a proud human being who doesn't like for other people to see her struggling, failing, and being anything but perfect.  However, I think I want to break the silence, admit my defeat, and start moving forward. 

     I originally restarted this blog a little over a year ago with the idea that maybe other people who have migraines can take my journey and learn from it. I never openly shared this idea because I didn’t think I really had much of a journey to follow.  I get migraines, end of story.  I am so super over posts about how my day has been.  I can already tell you how things probably went:  I had a migraine; it hurt; I tried to be productive but all I really wanted to do was sleep/lay down. 

     So now what? How do I change the conversation? How do you say "Body, you're going to be nice to me today!"? 

     Maybe you do it one step at a time. One song at a time. One verse at a time. 

     Maybe even the jaded can try their hand at optimism. 

Today:  I'm dreaming up some mini-projects to change the conversation.

Title: "Magic Touch" by Golden Silvers

We're All Just Puzzle Pieces

     Yesterday I had the pleasure of having dinner with some of the cutest kids around.  It was definitely the highlight of my day.

Title: "Do the Right Thing" by Dog Is Dead